Cloud gaming

Cloud gaming, also called gaming on demand or game streaming, is a way to play video games without downloading them onto your device. Instead, the games run on special computers far away called servers. These servers send the game to your device, so you can play right away.

This is different from the usual way of gaming, where you need to download the whole game onto your game console, computer, or phone. With cloud gaming, you just need an internet connection and a device that can show videos, like a TV or a computer.

Cloud gaming makes it easy to try new games without worrying about how powerful your own device is. It lets you play games that might be too big or need too much processing power for your regular computer or console. Many people enjoy this because it feels like magic—just pick a game and start playing!

Background

Cloud gaming platforms work like remote computers and photo services. Games are stored and run on a provider's special computers. Then they are shown as video on a player's device through special software. This software also sends the player's actions back to the server so the game can respond. Some cloud gaming services let users download and install games just like they would on a regular computer.

Cloud gaming is helpful because you don't need to buy expensive computer parts or install games on your own device. You can play games on many devices, such as smartphones, tablets, digital media players, or special thin devices. However, cloud gaming needs a good internet connection with fast speeds and low delay. Even with a fast connection, things like too much internet traffic can affect how well the game runs. Also, some internet services have limits on how much data you can use, which might affect how often you can play.

Infrastructure considerations

Cloud gaming needs special equipment to work well, like big data centers and server farms that run the games. It also needs fast internet to send the game to your device smoothly.

One big thing that affects how well cloud gaming works is delay. This is the time it takes for what you do on your device to show up in the game. This delay can matter a lot in fast games like first-person shooters and fighting games. To help with this, some data is stored closer to you so it can be used quickly when needed. Providers can also update their equipment to give better picture quality and smoother gameplay. They also think about how happy users are with the service, called the Quality of Experience.

History

The idea of cloud gaming started with a company called G-cluster in the year 2000. They let people play PC games on their servers and send the gameplay to users’ screens. Later, another company called Infinium Labs tried to make a special device for gaming, but it never came out.

In 2009, a man named Steve Perlman introduced OnLive, a service that let people play games using the internet. Around the same time, Gaikai started by letting people try out small versions of games. Sony Computer Entertainment bought Gaikai in 2012 and used it to start their own gaming service called PlayStation Now.

Later, companies like Nvidia began their own cloud gaming services. Nvidia Grid, later called GeForce Now, started in 2014 and let people play games on different devices. Other big companies like Google and Microsoft also started their own cloud gaming services. Amazon joined in 2020 with a service called Luna.

Today, many games can be played using cloud gaming, making it easier for people to play without needing very powerful computers.

Future

Cloud gaming may become better with new ways to share computer power. Today, each person playing a game uses a special part of a computer to create the game's pictures. This works well but can waste power. Scientists are finding smarter ways to share this power so one part can help many players together.

Some thinkers think we could use tricks to guess what a player will do next. This might make games feel faster and smoother, even if there is a short wait between a player's action and what appears on the screen.